Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which Linux tool or command is surprisingly simple, powerful, and yet underrated?" (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by mfat@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

345 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Which Linux command or utility is simple, powerful, and surprisingly unknown to many people or used less often?

This could be a command or a piece of software or an application.

For example I'm surprised to find that many people are unaware of Caddy, a very simple web server that can make setting up a reverse proxy incredibly easy.

Another example is fzf. Many people overlook this, a fast command-line fuzzy finder. It’s versatile for searching files, directories, or even shell history with minimal effort.

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[–] Patchwork@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (4 children)

jq - super powerful json parser. Useful by hand and in scripts

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I love jq, but I wouldn't call it "surprising simple" for anything but pretty-formatting json. It has a fairly steep learning curve for doing anything with all but the simplest operations on the simplest data structures.

[–] toastal@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

It’s not even pretty or accessible. 2-spaced indentation is incredibly hard to read.

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It can also format minimized JSON from cURL API requests

[–] jbrains@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

Combine with jc to process CSV files. This is how I get data into my plain text accounting system.

[–] lengau@midwest.social 2 points 3 days ago

jq and yq are both things I install on pretty much every machine I have.